Fairy Tail: The Fallen Dragon
by Monster Cat Music Girl
Summary: Natsu get left behind from the S-class trials, and when they get back, he's gone. And broken. I'm drawing inspiration from "Lost and Found", by Akiko Natsuko. This one is mine, though. I don't own Fairy Tail (I wish). Rated T for mild language and brutality.
1. Chapter 1: Lost

"I can't believe that I didn't get to go S-class," Natsu fumed. Lisanna laughed. "And Droopy Eyes gets to."

"Next year," she assured him. "I'm sure that the master will let you try the trials next year."

"That's what you say every year," he complained.

"See you all in a few days!" they had laughed. Years passed. They didn't return. The guild grew smaller as the years passed. They received fewer and fewer jobs. Then one day, seven years later, they came back. Mildly injured, but alive. Everyone was overyjoyed to see each other.

"Is Natsu on a job?" Lisanna asked. At that moment, they realized that they hadn't seen the explosive fire mage. The joy on the faces of those who had been left behind vanished. Lisanna's heart fell at their faces. "He's not…" she whispered, not wanting to say the dreaded word.

"No," Macao sighed, "but I almost wish he was." Makarov raised an eyebrow, worried.

"Is there someplace quiet where we can talk?" he asked. "Erza, come with us." Ignoring the worried looks the others were giving her, Erza followed the two men.

"Now, then," Makarov said, once the door was closed. "What happened?" Alarm spread across his face. "He hasn't joined a dark guild, has he?"

"No!" Macao exclaimed, then lowered his voice. "Natsu went missing a week after you did. He was on a job and never came back." There was a muffled cry. Erza spun and pulled Happy out from behind a box.

"What are you doing here?" she growled. The cat was in tears.

"I just wanted to find out what happened to Natsu," he whispered. "I never should have gone to Tenrou."

"Don't say that," Makarov sighed. "We'll find him, don't worry. Is there anything else?"

Macao placed his head in his hands. His voice was choked. "He was captured by a dark guild," he said tearfully. "They've had him for the past seven years."


	2. Chapter 2: Pain

"They've had him for the past seven years."

"Do you know what happened?" Erza asked, feeling scared. Macao bit his lip, then turned and pulled out a bag. He reached inside and removed a lacrima. He handed it to Makarov.

"Watch for yourself." The old guildmaster gave him a look, then activated the lacrima. A hooded man sitting at a desk appeared.

"Greetings, Fairy Tail. I believe that I have captured the one you call 'Natsu Dragneel'. Observe." The scene changed to show Natsu in a cell, shouting furiously at the door.

"I'll get you, you bastards," he yelled. "Just you wait!"

The man's voiced oozed into the scene. "I've have dubbed him 'Animal', in light of his… behaviors. Animal is very interesting. It is always trying to escape, as you can see." The display changed again to show Natsu violently pulling on his chains.

"Let me go, you bastard," he was shouting. "Or are you too scared?" He listened to the man's response.

"I'm afraid I can't, Animal. You are far too dangerous."

"I have a name, you know!" Natsu snarled.

The man chuckled. "No, you don't. Not anymore." The recording of Natsu stopped and vanished, showing the man behind the desk again. "Now, here are my terms: You have one chance to try and rescue him. If you fail, he dies. If you succeed, then you can keep him. Of course, there is the chance he'll die shortly afterward. But that doesn't matter. If you tell anyone outside of your guild, we will find out and he will die. Until you meet our terms, he will serve as… amusement for my more aggitated mages. I have several of those. We don't want money. We want a fight with the full force of your guild. To see if you are as powerful as people seem. I'm not one to take people's word on important things. Until then, Fairy Tail." Makarov stared at the lacrima.

"There are others?" he asked hoarsely. Macao silently let a dozen lacrima roll out of the bag. They were all labeled. Makarov piced up the one that had the earliest label. "I take it that you haven't gone after him?"

"Not yet," Macao admitted. "If they had the power to challenge us like this, then I knew that we couldn't take them without more people." Makarov nodded in agreement.

The next lacrima showed Natsu tightly chained to the wall. "Is this the best you've got?" he shouted defiently.

"Not at all," the man's cruel voice said. "Bring in the MS-9." Erza's heart went cold. MS-9's were outlawed a long time ago, on the grounds that they were torture machines for mages. Two electrodes were screwed against the temples. Through those, the machine would suck out the magic of the victim in the most painful way possible. The machine would use fifteen minute bursts, at the max, and needed a cooldown of five minutes, minimum. This was actully for the victim, not the machine. He would die if it was left on for any longer.

The electrodes were screwed against his temples. "Are you planning to drill those into my brain?" Natsu asked sarcastically.

"No," the man admitted, "but you'll wish we had. Turn it on once it's ready."

"Ready now, sir," a lackey said.

"Activate." Natsu's screams ripped their hearts to shreds. Erza had never heard him scream like this before, and hoped that she would never have to again. When it finally stopped, Natsu was left panting and groaning.

"What is going through that sick head of yours?" Natsu demanded, despite his obvious pain.

"As of right now? I wondering if I should use the MS-9 to punish you for your insolence. Yes, I believe I shall. Activate."

"But sir, the cooldown hasn't finished; you could kill –"

"Activate!" Makarov destroyed the lacrima just as Natsu began to scream.

"They're all like this?" he asked angrily. Macao nodded.

"It gets worse." Makarov nodded.

"I am decided. Erza, prepare the guild. Fairy Tail is going to war."


	3. Chapter 3: Found

Everyone was heartbroken to find out what Natsu had been going through the past seven years while they were gone. And angry. Mira almost went into Demon form on the spot.

"Let's show them what real men are like!" Elfman bellowed.

"Master," Lisanna asked. "Do we even know where they are?" That put a buffer on her brother's enthusiasm.

"Yes. They got overconfident and actually sent their address to us."

Erza laughed darkly. Oh, they were going to pay.

They stormed the enemy guild hall. Lisanna took the form of a very large and very unhappy tiger. Mira was rampaging in Satan Soul. Erza had at least fifteen swords out and a giant hammer. Taurus was also running around, courtesy of Lucy.

"Lucy," Makarov thundered. "Lisanna, go find Natsu. We'll deal with the guild." Many mages cowered into front of the giant angry master.

"Come on," the tiger/Lisanna yelled. They ran down the stairs, attacking anyone they came across. Once they were down in the dungeons, they ran into a middle-aged woman. She had blood splattered on her clothes and skin. The girls' rage at the fact that it could be Natsu's blood allowed them to take her down quickly, despite the fact that she was more powerful than they were.

"Where is the prisoner?" Lucy growled at her. The woman's mouth remained shut. Lisanna transformed into some very scary looking creature.

"Where is he?" she thundered. The woman started shaking.

"Down the hall," she stuttered. "You can't miss his door."

They left her and ran down the hall. His door was reinforced and locked tightly from the outside. It only took Lisanna a couple of hits to break it down. They stormed in and almost cried at what they saw.

It was Natsu – but a much older, much more worn Natsu than they had left seven years ago. He hung suspended by his wrists from the ceiling, his toes barely touching the ground. His filthy pink hair had grown long over his face. The beard also hid his face from view. He was thin – unnervingly so. His ribs were in plain sight, and at least three had been broken and healed wrong. The purple lines on his right forearm indicated that the bone had been shattered. He wasn't really wearing anything, Lucy noticed, slightly embarrassed, other than something that barely qualified as a loin cloth. He was covered in bruises and cuts, blood and scars. Blood splattered the floor around him. A bloody whip also lay on the ground. Some sort of machine was also attached to the ceiling, and was attached to Natsu via two electrodes on the temples.

"What have they done to you?" Lucy whispered. Lisanna was pale.

"What do you think this screen is for?" she wondered. "It's measuring something. Whatever it is, it's almost at five percent." The moment she finished it hit five percent. The machine whirred on. Natsu screamed. It was a gut-wrenching sound. The numbers on the screen rapidly dwindled down to zero. "They're taking his magic," Lisanna realized with rage.

Lucy's eyes wandered over Natsu's broken body, wondering how anyone could do this to him. He shifted. Her eyes flew up to his face and she yelped. His eyes were open and watching her.

"He's awake," she said softly. His eyes were terrifying. His pupils were unnaturally large, most likely from the lack of light exposure. But the scary thing was how dead they were. Not caring. "Natsu?" she whispered. "Natsu, do you recognize me?" He gave her the same dead look. Then they closed as he passed out.


	4. Chapter 4: Broken

Lucy opened Loke's gate, knowing that he would want to help.

"What's wro-" he started, then noticed Natsu. Shock covered his face for a moment, then rage. "What have they done to him?" he growled, living up to his title of 'the Lion'. "How long have they had him?"

"Seven years," Lucy responded. Loke's nose wrinkled.

"He stinks."

"Loke!" Lisanna scolded.

"No, that's not what I meant. They probably haven't given him any where to… you know… do his business."

"Oh." She hadn't thought about that.

Loke looked over Natsu's injuries with a professional eye. "Judging by the bruising on his neck…" He stopped and adjusted his glasses. "But that doesn't explain the bruising on the back of his neck. We can figure that out later."

"Loke," Lucy snapped. "I summoned you to help us get him out of here." He froze for a moment at her tone, then nodded. Shattering his chains with magic, he caught Natsu and shifted him onto his back. It worried him how light the fire mage was. But the important thing was to get him out.

"What do you mean, 'Fairy Tail attacked'?" the man snapped. His underling cowered at his tone.

"They attacked in force, just a few minutes ago," he whimpered. His master sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Has the Animal broken yet?" he asked. His minion shook his head. "Retreat."

"Sir?" the underling said, not sure that he had heard correctly.

"Retreat!" he roared. "We need every mage possible at the full capacity to fight, and we can't do that unless we retreat." He stared at the screen showing the reports flooding in. To himself, he whispered, "I will lure you into a false sense of security. Then I will take the Animal back and finish its breaking. Then, I will begin the ritual and become the most powerful man to ever exist, more powerful than Zeref. Soon, we will meet again. And you will die."

It watched the humans. They had rescued it from the Room, showing it that there was so much more outside of its Room. Well, it had suspected that there was something outside of the Room. Where else had the humans it had seen before go? Its eyes closed as it gave into the pain assaulting it in waves.

They watched Natsu carefully. He had woken up for a few minutes, and watched them with fear in his eyes. He had carefully curled up into a ball, watching them to see if anything he was doing was wrong. His guild was furious on the inside that he had been driven to this kind of fear. Lisanna gently stroked his cheek. He whimpered in his sleep. How long had they tortured him before he became like this? She tried not to look at his right shoulder. It had evidently been done early on. His guild mark was still intact, but they had mutilated his shoulder until it was barely recognizable. _Oh, Natsu_. The worst part was that he didn't recognize anyone. Not even Happy. The cat was heartbroken over that.

"Natsu," she said softly, shaking him gently. She hated having to wake him up so soon. "Hey, Natsu." His eyes flew open. "Hey, it's ok." Natsu watched her carefully, his eyes darting to the bowl that she had in her hand. It was some simple broth that she had made herself. The hunger in his eyes, followed quickly by suspicion, broke her heart. How long had they starved him between meals? How often had they fed him? "This is for you." She offered the bowl to him. His nose twitched a little. It was obvious that he wanted the broth badly, but wouldn't take it. Wondering if this was something else that the dark guild had done to him, Lisanna spooned up a bit of the broth and pressed it against his mouth. Erza watched. They could both see the desire in his eyes, but the fear made him pull his face away from the broth. Erza sighed.

"He's not going to eat," she told Lisanna after a few more attempts to get him to eat. "Just leave him alone." Lisanna slowly agreed, but left him the bowl. When she had retreated a few feet, she heard a scuffle behind her. She spun, fearing that a member of the dark guild had decided to go after Natsu. A sad smile tugged at her mouth. Natsu had dove after the bowl, spilling most of it in the process, and was eating. After a bite or two, though, he stopped and stared at the bowl regretfully. With more violence and strength then she would have thought, he threw the bowl at a tree. After that, he curled into a ball again.

"What do you think he's thinking?" she asked her older sister softly. Mira shook her head.

"You saw where he was being kept, what they were doing to him. It hurts to say this, but I'd be surprised if he was still sane."

It waited for the punishment that was sure to come after it threw the bowl. But the punishment didn't come. _Why aren't they hurting me?_ it wondered. The humans were just watching it sorrowfully. _What kind of people are they?_ Everything was hurting. Its back in particular. Surely they would hurt it soon. But they had given it food. And it was good. Why were they being so kind to it?

**So this is the end of what I've written so far, so don't expect an update within the next couple of days.**


	5. Chapter 5: Poll Intermission

**As you can see, I put up a poll for NaLu or NaLi for 'Fairy Tail: The Fallen Dragon'. I'm leaning towards NaLi, because it seems like the best plot line so far. NaLu fans, your job is to convince me otherwise. No arguments like 'But they belong together it's so obvious'. I need proof. NaLi fans, your job is to keep the NaLu fans from completing their jobs. Please no swearing at each other. I'm a nice person, but I WILL report you.**

**Ready… Set… GO!**


	6. Chapter 6: Oops

**KHAN HAS A STUPID FACE **

**MARLA AND KHAN FOREVER**

**ALL HONOR NATSU WHOSE HAIR WIPES THE FLOOR WITH KHAN'S ENTIRE BEING**


	7. Chapter 7: Rehabilitation

**Sorry about yesterday's chapter. No, my profile didn't get hacked, and no, it wasn't a dare. My older sister and I have an ongoing argument over who's hotter, Natsu, or Monto-Khan. (Natsu wins by far) I had left my writing up so I could go get something, and she wrote a reverse version of what got posted. I 'fixed' it, and saved it, then forgot about it. I meant to post this chapter yesterday, but made a mistake and posted the lastest version of the argument. I didn't take it down because it was funny. Here's the chapter that should have been posted yesterday.**

Back at the guild, Erza sighed. They were trying to give Natsu a bath, but he was frantically pulling away from the water, terror on his face. She quickly pulled the curtain, hiding the water from view. _Why is he so afraid of the water?_ she wondered. Then it occurred to her. The strange bruises on the back of his neck… like someone had been forcing his head down into something… and now his terror of water… It took all of her willpower not to show her rage in front of Natsu. He was frightened enough as it was.

They had to resort to a sponge bath, which Natsu reluctantly surrendered to. Whenever the sponge went over a bruise or an open wound, he would whimper, but made no move.

Dressing him in one of Gray's outfits - he wasn't using it, anyway - , it was painstakingly obvious how thin Natsu was. His cheekbones jutted out and his eyes were hollow.

He still refused to eat. His suspicion of food made them wonder if his captors had put something in his meals. Something that wasn't supposed to be there.

It watched the people who rescued him. They were talking about it, it knew, but it ignored them for the most part. It only payed enough attention to make sure that there wasn't a punishment coming. There was never a reason behind the punishments - it never did anything wrong - but they didn't really need one. But these people were different. The only pain they had put it through was when they had been cleaning it. Being clean felt good, it decided.

It still refused food. It wasn't sure that they wouldn't do something to its food, like the other people had. It cringed when it remembered the violently ill spells it would go through after eating. It had refused food after the first few spells, but then they had force fed it.

Then again, when its hunger had overpowered it and it had eaten the food it had been given, it hadn't been sick. Maybe it was a trap. It wasn't sure.

The one with the short white hair was hovering by its side. It tried to ignore her. She touched its shoulder, making it jump. It tried to pay attention as she spoke. The food in her hands was very distracting.

"Natsu? Are you hungry?" The starved look in his eyes answered for him. She placed the bowl in front of him. He started to reach for it, but then hesitated and pushed it away. Lisanna sighed. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked, then a sad thought occurred to her. "Can you even understand me?" To her relief, he nodded slowly. Relief flooded through her. "Can you speak?" Natsu stared blankly. Evidently not. She pushed the bowl back towards him. "It's some food," she said carefully. "It's for you." He reached for it slowly, his eyes darting between her and the bowl. He grabbed it clumsily, spilling a bit of it. Natsu froze and looked at her, evidently wondering if he did something wrong. Lisanna just soaked it up with a towel and smiled at him. He resumed pulling the bowl towards him, hunching over it to protect it, as well as with the crook of his stick-like arm. He ate only a few bites though, reluctantly giving up the bowl.

"He's not recognizing anything," Erza was arguing with Makarov. "If we attack them again before they recover, we might be able to find it."

"Find what?" Lisanna asked, unwillingly leaving Natsu's side.

"His scarf," Mira murmured. "Erza thinks it will help him remember." Lisanna had to agree with Erza there. If anything would help him remember, it would be the scarf Igneel had given him.

"How is he doing?" Erza asked Lisanna, changing the subject. The women looked at Natsu, who was resting his head on the table. Despite only being twenty-five, he looked like he was somewhere in his forties or fifties.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "One moment, he seems like he's about to be like he used to be, and the next he's terrified of me. I don't know what to do." Erza patted her shoulder.

"We'll get through to him somehow," she promised. "I know it."

It watched the women. It still wanted the food, but couldn't stomach it. One question was going through his head, a solitary thought - Why were they being so kind to it? It hadn't done anything to deserve it. It struggled to remember something before the constant pain. It knew that it was close, as it could barely remember a time when it had been more brash. More insolent. But the masters had punished it until it had discovered its place.

A bright light from an open -What was it called? - door suddenly shone in its eyes. It clumsily tried to shield its face, but failed miserably. All light was painfully bright. It couldn't remember a time when it had seen the light before being led from the Room.

The girl with the red hair sat next to him. The one with the short white as well as this one always seemed pained by the fact that it didn't know her, and that created an interesting kind of pain inside of it. It didn't like it.


	8. Chapter 8: How It Happened

**HI! Writer's block has lifted at last, though I have a feeling it'll settle back in. I know, short chapter. But I'll start going into what happened to Natsu during the seven years, which is why I changed the rating. This is going to get a bit brutal. Oh, and I know what pairing I'm going to use. It's... On second thought, I'm not going to reveal it. Why? I'm honestly afraid of losing at least half of my readers. Keep reading, and eventually, you'll find out.**

* * *

"Natsu?" Erza asked tentatively. He watched her with a mix of curiosity and fear. She had gotten used to seeing the fear in his eyes, but that didn't make it any less painful. "How are you feeling?" He averted his eyes and continued picking at a knot in the table. She gently touched his shoulder. He jumped. "I'm sorry," she said, inwardly cursing at herself for causing him further pain. Confusion filled his eyes.

"N-" he started. Erza stared. Natsu hadn't even tried to speak since they rescued him. "N-" he tried again. She gave him an encouraging smile. "No," he whispered softly. "M-M-My…" Erza's heart sank as she realized what he was trying to say. "Fault," he finally gasped out. She stroked his tangled hair sadly.

"It's not your fault," she told him. Tears pricked her eyes as she gently hugged him. Natsu stiffened at first, then relaxed against her. "None of this is your fault."

* * *

Natsu groaned as he came to. _What happened?_ he wondered. He shook his head, trying to clear the fuzziness. He had been on a job… waiting for the others to come back from the S-class trials. Something had gone wrong. He could tell that much; he was chained up in a dark, wet cell. Panic flooded him as he realized that he couldn't feel his magic. Wait. It had merely been suppressed, not taken away. He shivered, cold for the first time in years.

Footsteps. Coming down the hall.

Natsu's door opened. Two men came in. "Who the hell are you?" Natsu snarled. "And why the hell am I here?" One of the men punched him in the gut. Pain exploded through his body as it naturally tried to curl up.

"Don't be so insolent," the other man said. "My name is Nazar. But you will be calling me 'Master'."

"In your dreams," Natsu snapped. Nazar's henchman hit him multiple times. He was completely defenseless. He knew that the smart thing to do would be to play along, but he was known for not doing the smart thing. It had saved his life multiple times before. Nazar kept talking while Natsu was being beaten.

"To answer your second question, you are here to be broken." Ironically, one of Natsu's ribs broke just then, and he screamed. "Quite literally, it seems. Shemal, I would ask you to refrain from killing him just yet." Natsu hung from his chains, panting. Bruises were already beginning to form. "In good time, you will be mine. Just wait."

"Never," Natsu gasped. "I'll never serve you."

"You will," Nazar called over his shoulder as he left. "Trust me. They always do." When the door shut, Natsu exploded.

"I'll get you, you bastards!" he shouted. "Just you wait!"

* * *

**Review, if you please. It'll make me very happy, and I'm taking ideas. It'll help me pump out chapters faster.**


	9. Chapter 9: Descent Into Madness

**Before we start this miserable chapter, I wanted to let you know that today is my birthday! As my present to you, we get to see Natsu's descent into insanity. :) Enjoy!**

* * *

He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had first woken up in the cell. Maybe a month, maybe a year. His brain was constantly muddled. But the pain…

He was in constant agony. They tortured him constantly; sucking away his magic, whipping him mercilessly, beating him.

He coughed up blood as he curled into a ball. They were beating it again. It was in so much pain… He couldn't hold back its scream any longer. He cried out as they beat him more furiously than before. _Why?_ was all it could wonder.

"Enough," Nazar said. Natsu's gasps for air were shallow and painful. There were at least three ribs broken. Nazar knelt in front of Natsu and took his face in his pincer-like grip. "How are you feeling, Animal?" Natsu stared dully at the man before defiantly closing his eyes. Nazar backhanded him hard before ordering another whipping. Natsu's heart sank. Whippings were the worst. They never gave him anything to bite on, so he could only scream. He usually passed out by the tenth lash, though.

There was someone, though, who was kind to him. It confused him, because she was a member of this dark guild. She treated his wounds, stitching up the worse of the whips lashes. She was so kind to it…

Though Natsu didn't know it, four years had gone by since his capture. The woman continued to help him, sneaking bits of food to him every now and then, since they were starving him, and water. He never thought that he would be so glad to see water before in its life.

Natsu raised his head as he heard footsteps. He was so tired… but hadn't he been beaten like an hour ago? The door to his cell shook as it was unlocked. His eyes widened in surprise when the woman who had been helping him - Jada, was her name - was dragged in by a couple guards. Nazar flanked them.

"So, Jada, you thought you could get away with helping the little Animal behind my back?"

"It was unnecessary cruelty." He smacked her.

"Leave her alone," Natsu croaked. Nazar turned to look at him.

"And what are you going to do about it, Animal?" He looked at Nazar, dread filling his chest as he uttered the dreadful words.

"Punish me instead." Jada looked at him in horror.

"No!"

"So defensive," Nazar mocked. "Are you actually asking for punishment?" Natsu swallowed and nodded.

"Please leave her alone."

"Please leave her alone what?" Nazar prodded. Natsu nearly choked on the words.

"Please, leave her alone… Master."

The man chuckled. "How amusing. Despite being held here for _such_ a long time, you still feel this way about people… Kill her."

"No!" Natsu screamed. It was too late. Her face twisted in pain as a blade came out of her chest. "No" he whispered, tears filling his eyes.

His mental state rapidly went downhill from there. All he ever felt was pain, inside and out. It couldn't take it anymore. It just let them beat it. They tortured it until its voice was gone from screaming. It forget Jada, and everything before its life in this hell. It forgot Fairy Tail… It forgot Igneel… It forgot everything but pain.

* * *

It watched the people who rescued it. Somehow they felt familiar, yet it couldn't remember ever seeing them before. They called it a weird name… 'Natsu'. Why? Had that been its name before it had been put in its dark cell? It wasn't sure.

But they fed it. And it was warm. For the first time in its memory, its wounds healed completely. Nearly three months after he had been rescued, it wasn't able to count its ribs anymore.

The girl with red hair, the girl with gold hair, and the man who was always losing his clothes - it didn't blame him, clothes were annoying, but nice - were always with it. When the blue cat had presented a scaly scarf to him with a bright smile on his face, it could feel something stirring within its memories. Excited, it dug inside, but the tighter it held on to the flicker, the more it slipped away. Its face had fallen as it lost the flicker of memory. It felt even worse when it saw its constant companions' faces fall as well.

It could communicate a little now. It was able to tell them when it was hungry, or thirsty. At first, it hadn't said anything for fear of punishment, but they had encouraged him to tell them. It was also able to talk idly a little. It learned new words every day.

* * *

Lisanna watched Natsu as he struggled to say more words. She tried to ignore the pang in her heart upon seeing her best friend reduced to this state. Natsu had always been so lively, and now he was afraid to talk to them for fear of what they might do. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered where they had found him. A dark, cold cell. He had been denied the most basic things a human needed for seven years, and this was what it had done to him. Then she noticed Natsu staring at her sadly. He understood that something was missing, and was trying to hard to find it.

One thing Natsu had hated was to see his nakama cry. He still hated it, though he showed it differently now. Now, he would watch the upset person with concern and more than a little fear, wondering what was wrong and how he could fix it.

"Sad?" he asked her hesitantly. Lisanna wiped her tears away.

"A little," she admitted. "But it's ok." She could have laughed right then as he gave her a look that he had given her so often before.

"Smile," he said softly, gesturing to her face. "You… smile." It was a mixture of a command and statement.

"Ok," she said. "Smile." Last month, they had reached another milestone with him. He had allowed them to cut his hair and beard off. Before, he wouldn't let them come within five meters of him while holding scissors or a razor. He looked at little better now. Natsu would spend as much time as he could outside. His pupils remained unnaturally large, and he would often shield his face from the sun. But Lisanna would never forget the delighted sounds he made when he touched fresh grass for the first time in seven years.

He wore the scarf constantly, hiding some of the vicious scars on his neck. It was hard to see any of the scars, now, because of the jeans and sweater he wore constantly. Natsu wouldn't let anyone near him when he wasn't wearing his clothes. After much coaxing, Gray managed to convince him that he wouldn't hurt him. As a result, Gray was one of the few people Natsu would willingly turn his back on.

Gray was talking to Natsu, crouching in front of him. There had been a few rules that Natsu had set in order to get close to him. Both hands had to be in plain sight and empty of anything that could be used as a weapon. Eye contact at all times unless he broke it first. And above all - don't touch his back. Gray had received enough trust from the Dragon Slayer to bypass the last rule, which meant that he was the only one able to look at Natsu's back, which wasn't healing properly from all of the whippings he had gotten.

"How is it?" Erza asked Gray quietly as he looked at Natsu's bare back. The dark look on his face had her worried. She couldn't let her emotions show on her face, which Natsu's eyes were fixated. She felt a pang in her chest at the fear in them.

"Bad," Gray muttered. "Infection has set in." It took a little coaxing to let Erza look at his back, though the ice wizard had to be between them. Erza felt sick when she saw Natsu's back. The last time she saw it was when he had first been rescued, covered in blood. But now…

There were more scars than she cared to count, but at least fifteen of them were swollen, oozing pus, and an ugly greenish color. Erza had seen how his face would tense in pain whenever he stood or sat, but she had no idea that it was this bad. All of the torture over the years must have numbed his body to the pain.

"We need to take him to Porlyusica," Erza said. Natsu gasped as Gray gently pressed a cloth against the infected wounds. A groan escaped his clenched teeth. Gray was shaking his head.

"Porlyusica is scary. The last thing we need is for her to terrify him again."

"I'll talk to the ma- Makarov." Natsu had been terrified when he overheard them call Makarov the master. No one wanted a repeat of that. Erza could still remember the terror on his face as he huddled in a corner, lashing out with a knife if anyone got too close. Thankfully, Natsu didn't catch her slip and focused tightly on the wall.

As she left, Natsu let out a long, aching moan of pain that ripped her heart to shreds.

* * *

**If it's any consolation, I was really mad at myself for writing this chapter. Review as my birthday present!**


	10. Chapter 10: I'm Sorry

**First of all, I am so sorry for doing this to you. I haven't updated in ages, and then you see that there's a new chapter up!... only for it to not actually be a chapter. However, this needs to be written.**

**There won't be anymore chapters for a while.**

**Now, before you murder me, let me explain. I'm just not happy with it. It's inconsistent, contradicts itself, and doesn't really have a plot. To be honest, I hate it.**

**DON'T WORRY. I WILL NOT DISCONTINUE THIS. It will go on. I just want to fix the plot in my head, and then fix the inconsistencies. I didn't really have the plot fully hashed out before I started posting, and then when it got such a favorable response, I frantically started writing just to get chapters out for you. Because of that, this happened.**

**I will continue this, and it's not up for adoption. I always finish my stories. I will go through and change the chapters so that I'm happy with it. I won't post anything until I have the plot firmly fixed in my mind and a good bit of it written down. But there's a good chance that this won't happen until I finish the Rift Chronicles and Midori: The Green Flame.**

**Once again, I'm very sorry. Please don't murder me**.


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